Brown Severs Newsmax Ties

Senator Scott Brown, a Republican from Massachusetts, in this July 15, 2010 file photo.

Republican Scott Brown has severed ties with the conservative website Newsmax after the organization used his name and email list to send out an article promoting the views of Dr. Russell Blaylock, a conspiracy theorist who believes fluoride causes Alzheimer’s Disease and questions the utility of vaccines.

“I did not approve or authorize the sending of this particular email,” Brown said in a statement yesterday. “Due to this and other issues, I am terminating my relationship with this vendor effective immediately.”

He said he only became aware of the email yesterday morning and “dealt with it.”

The email provided readers with “5 Signs You’ll Get Alzheimer’s Disease.” It offered information on “how over-exercising can harm your brain” and that “items in your home pantry that have been linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.”

The e-mail included a header showing Brown, a former Republican senator from Massachusetts sizing up his chances for a campaign in New Hampshire, in barn jacket — the same image at in his new website . “Dear Patriot” the email reads “I thought you might be interested in our offer below from our sponsor Newsmax Health.”

It’s signed “Senator Scott Brown.”

Brown frequently rents out his list of supporters to third-party organizations as a way to raise money. Brown’s The People Seat political action committee took in $55,600 last year renting the senator’s list of political supporters to two organizations, Conservative Connector, based in Greenwood Illinois and Granite Lists, based in Dublin, New Hampshire.

He’s “very selective” about who he rents to, he said in a statement.

Brown has been flirting with another run for office from New Hampshire, challenging incumbent Sen.Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat.

He moved to Rye, New Hampshire, in December, where his family has long had a summer home, and has appeared at a number of events in the state — including participating in a “Penguin Plunge” where he jumped into chilly winter waters to raise money for the Special Olympics of New Hampshire. A shirtless photo of the plunging politician who once appeared in Cosmopolitan as a young man was published on the front page of the state’s largest newspaper.

Yesterday the League of Conservation Voters launched a $200,000 television campaign against Brown accusing him of close ties to “Big Oil.” It’s the second ad-buy against Brown this year — last month the Senate Majority PAC spent about $150,000 attacking him.